1. Field of the Invention
A universal vacuum cleaner extension kit extends the reach of standard cleaners by using a fluid impervious elastic coupling that can join different diameter conduits or integral tubes having tapered male and/or female ends.
2. Description of Related Art
Most vacuum cleaners come with some sort of extension and replacement parts. These prove to be satisfactory for the standard rooms, but do not meet the needs for high locations such as high ceilings, vaulted ceilings, high windows, and high foyers. Frequently available tubes do not have the same diameter so that different manufacturers units cannot be joined together.
In the vacuum cleaner art, extensions are well known for reaching heights and for extending the horizontal reach from the collection cannister or bag. There is no universally accepted standard for tubing or connectors. However, most tubing and connectors used with vacuum cleaners vary from 1¼ inches to 1½ inches in diameter. B. Baxter (U.S. Pat. No. 2,122,633, issued 5 Jul. 1938) is an example of tubular extension sections having locking couplings between the sections. N. Okun (U.S. Pat. No. 2,801,437, issued 6 Aug. 1957) teaches a tapered male and female coupling; N. Schneider (U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,776, issued 2 May 1995) teaches small tapers for frictionally securing parts of vacuum attachments to extension tubes; and, R. McDowell (U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,962, issued 18 Oct. 1977) teaches several stepped and tapered inner surfaces for forcefully attaching a tubular vacuum cleaner section to various size nozzles, such as 1¼ and 1½ inch external diameter nozzles.
Elastic elements have been used with vacuum and air conducting conduits for various purposes. As examples, E. Martinet (U.S. Pat. No. 2,273,211, issued 17 Feb. 1942) seals air leakage by covering a joint coupling with a one-piece rubber sleeve. W. Sheppard (U.S. Pat. No. 2,460,851, issued 8 Feb. 1949) joins a connector to a bag using a molded rubber sleeve that is slightly less than the outside diameter of a tubular connector to frictionally grip it. M. Groves et al (U.S. Pat. No. 3,306,634, issued 28 Feb. 1967) uses an elastic molded sleeve to make a joint air tight with cylindrical tubular front and rear ends and a corrugated central section. W. Aberilla (U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,753, issued 2 Dec. 1975) uses stretchable elongated tubes over the ends of rigid tubes for rapid joining and sealing with different diameter rigid tubes joined by using a short length collar between the smaller diameter connector and the stretchable elongated tube.
The use of elastic or resilient rings for joining pipes subject to movement (U.S. Pat. No. 122,614, issued 9 Jan. 1872 to W. Kearney) and unequal diameters (U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,621, issued 16 Sep. 1975 to T. De Marco) and as a valve cover releasably secured in place by Velcro® fasteners (U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,967, issued 12 Sep. 1978 to R. Withem) as an adjustable, flexible clamp secured by Velcro® fasteners (U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,035, issued 11 Oct. 1983 to McElroy et al) and as a Velcro-secured protective hose cover (U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,543, issued 5 Jun. 1990 to E. Zuiches) as a truncated fluid emission seal with Velcro® securing (U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,500, issued 9 Apr. 1996 to Webb et al) are old.
Velcro® attached, stretched elastic for garments is taught by F. Gaber (U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,755, issued 16 Oct. 2001) and F. McCabe (U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,932, issued 15 Sep. 1992). Sommers et al (U.S. Pat. No. 5,693,401, issued 2 Dec. 1997) discusses in detail the elastic used in elastic strips used to hold surgical gloves in place with hooks and loops securing their ends together. This patent is incorporated herein by reference.